School Discipline and the Predictable Blame Game

CURE’s mission is to address issues of race and poverty through principles of traditional values, limited government, and free markets. Among these traditional values are marriage as defined as the union between one man and one woman, family stability, and personal responsibility.

Generally, children are better off physically, emotionally, and financially living with their married parents. Children in stable, two-parent homes have greater academic achievement and fewer behavioral problems. Family instability in part explains such racial disparities as suspension and expulsion rates. But few in the mainstream media want to have that discussion.

Last week, the web was abuzz about a new report released by the federal government on the disproportionate rate of school discipline among black preschoolers. City Journal‘s Heather Mac Donald addresses what they won’t:

Actually, what Ms. Smith-Evans [interim director of education practice at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund] should be trying to fathom is the black crime rate, which explains the school-suspension rate. Black males between the ages of 14 and 17 commit homicide at ten times the rate of white and Hispanic males of the same age combined. Given such high crime rates, what do the civil-rights advocates and the Obama administration think is going on in the classroom — docile obedience and strict self-discipline? In fact, the same weak impulse control that leads to such high crime rates among young black males inevitably means more disruptive behavior in school.

It is so easy–too easy–to blame others. It’s also unproductive. Looking in the mirror can be painful and guilt-inducing. Rather than examining factors among blacks themselves that exacerbate racial disparities, such as fatherless homes, leftists opt for the point-and-blame game.

None of the federal studies mention or control for single-parent households, of course. Instead, we are supposed to believe that well-meaning teachers, who have spent their entire time in ed school steeped in the doctrine of “white privilege” and who are among the most liberal segments of the workforce, suddenly become bigots once in the classroom and begin arbitrarily suspending pacific black children out of racial bias.

The civil rights industry seems to prefer avoiding the truth and citing historic grievances, which don’t come close to solving the problems. It’s as though they don’t want solutions; only complaints.